Friday 14 October 2011

Cycling and sunglasses

Ordinarily I loathe wearing glasses of any kind but increasingly I need to.  Firstly I couldn't be sitting here typing right now without glasses through being long sighted (allegedly to do with this middle age stuff) and also because my Optician emphatically says everyone should wear sunglasses in bright conditions.

Years ago I used to wear sunglasses but frequently lost them and eventually gave up.  Nowadays through having retina problems I am trying to take care of my sight a bit better.

There is much evidence to confirm excessive sunlight, containing ultra violet light is harmful to our eyes.  Too much bright sunlight can increase the chances of cataracts and glaucoma, neither are trivial to deal with.

I hate the idea of donning all this trendy gear for a bike ride (helmet, padded mitts, SPD shoes and sunglasses) as it takes away some of the freedom and the carefree appeal of cycling.  We live in a society in which our transport system is so regulated and controlled, cycling is almost the last part yet to come under officialdom's policy making machinery.  So, I resisted.  Then first came the helmet (obliged by family), padded mitts (did I tell you I injured my hand in January and it STILL hurts) and now sunglasses.

They do have some mitigation though:
  1. They were fairly economical - £20 from Boots (July price)
  2. They seem good quality
  3. They keep flies and flying insects out of my eyes (eye hitting an insect at 40mph is disconcerting)
  4. My kids say I look super-cool wearing them
  5. As "sports" glasses they have a good "grip" and don't fall off
  6. Quick and easy to get used to them
  7. The right level of light-blocking

3 comments:

  1. Chris17 October 2011 at 21:38

    I wore sunglasses (£4.99 from Flamingo Land) for most of Sunday even though it wasn't very sunny. I had left my usual - yellow tinted - ones at home (I had found my them at the roadside last year and I always assumed they were jazzy cycling ones). Then a telephone engineer knocked on my door a few months ago and he was wearing the exact same pair. I suppose I can't complain that my two pairs of 'eyeware' costs less than a fiver. I wear contact lenses and I feel naked without something else covering my eyes. Chris - cycleseven.org

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  2. Doug17 October 2011 at 23:09

    Thanks for your comment Chris.
    Yellow glasses - I guess these might brighten up dull cloudy days?

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  3. Anonymous23 October 2011 at 20:49

    Roll on next summer!

    ReplyDelete

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